There is some strategy involved- more so than its PS2 counterparts ever had. On the PSP, Dynasty Warriors involves both battleground action and a gameboard like movement. Choose your formation officers wisely- each officer offers unique abilities like life, attack, or defense boosts, Recovery (recover health- works once a battle), the ability to start battles on a horse or special attack effects like fire, ice, vorpal (wind)...

Once you are ready to play you are presented with a game board like map and you choose where to move next. You have to strategize and plan your movements according to how many supplies you have left (minutes of gameplay- check the blue meter/line) where enemies and/or allies are located, whether your depots or main base camp is under attack. If your base camp is overwhelmed or you run out of supplies (aka time) you lose. Take over certain enemy depots to gain supplies nonplayer officers may also take over depots to gain supplies or overwhelm the enemy base camp without you.

Once you choose a location you are taken to the battle ground where you and your troops plus any reinforcements that may arrive for either side fight for control of the area. Your goal is to decrease the enemy's morale. If there are officers (people that acually have names) on a battleground, killing those officers will have a drastic effect on enemy morale. Reinforcements increase that side's morale. Pick fights with officers (worthy opponents) more often to gain points and/or boosts for your character once the entire battle is over. You also have to know when not to pick a fight with an officer. For example, Lu Bu is almost impossible to kill on the PSP version, thanks to crazy amounts of health, powerful attacks, and long reach. As the levels containing Lu Bu will warn you, the better strategy is to avoid fighting Lu Bu alone at all costs- you will lose to him. This can be difficult because if you're on the same battleground and in his vicinity, he'll chase you. Focus on lowering morale- engage him only if there are other officers to back you up- if they are actually attacking him.

On the PS2 versions of Dynasty Warriors, battles were purely action- there was no game board movement. You juat ran around the battleground killing people. Although sometimes you still have to strategize to avoid being overwhelmed or killed.